Western Alliance: 2023 in review

Western Alliance year in review

2023 was another strong and positive year for Western Alliance. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our team members, member organisations and other partners, we made significant progress towards our four strategic objectives:

1.Strengthening partnerships and collaborations for translational research and research translation:

• As a member of Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA), we contributed to national initiatives on Consumer and Community Involvement in Research and Women’s Health
• A-CTEC continues to develop and thrive, with over 200 users from Western Alliance member organisations, and 4000 across Australia
• DELIVER is collaborating with all Western Alliance member organisation and working towards improving out of hospital care for older people across western Victoria (read more in the DELIVER report in this newsletter)

2.Building the capacity and capability of individuals and teams for translational research and research translation:

• STaRR has had its most successful year, training and supporting emerging researchers and research mentors to ensure research capacity in our member organisations continues to grow (read more in the STaRR report in this newsletter)

3.Creating an enabling environment for translational research and research translation:

• Through our support of the Community and Research Network (CARN), we have improved access to consumers and carers for research studies and Western Alliance grant funding panels
• The 2023 Symposium provided an opportunity for 115 registrants to reconnect with colleagues and develop new collaborations, while showcasing 40 research presentations and 4 keynote speakers across two days in Warrnambool
• Our Research Translation Coordinators were instrumental in supporting and enabling many research and translation initiatives across the region, and developing ‘Research Day’ events at South West Healthcare, Western District Health Service & Colac Area Health

4.Targeting support and funding to accelerate the translation of research into health policy and practice:

• 3 Research Translation Grants ($100k)
• 6 STaRR Emerging Researcher Grants ($40k)
• 5 Successful External grants supported by Western Alliance ($93k investment, $10.4M in funding)
• 2 PhD Scholarships (90k)

2024 is set to be even bigger, with an expanded STaRR program, more targeted funding grant rounds, a focus on consolidating our programs and building new initiatives to support first nations led research and expanding our consumer and community engagement program. We look forward to an exciting 2024 for research and research translation across the region.